US Senators Don’t Trust Facebook

Several US lawmakers are seriously against the idea of Facebook handling/managing cryptocurrencies. More specifically, 5 US senators from the Democrats reject the notion of giving Facebook such responsibilities.

The senators who oppose the idea are Sherrod Brown, Elizabeth Warren, Tina Smith, Brian Schatz and Richard Blumenthal. In particular, the US senators are against allowing Facebook to launch its own cryptocurrency. In addition to rejecting the idea of Facebook creating its own digital wallet as well.

Consequently, the lawmakers issued Facebook Inc with an ultimatum to immediately terminate its pilot cryptocurrency, Novi. Facebook already launched Novi on the 19th of October, after two years of working on the project.

The US senators informed the CEO of Facebook Ink of the decision, Mark Zuckenberg, via a letter. Moreover, the letter states that the lawmakers won’t allow Facebook to develop even its pilot cryptocurrency wallet.

Despite being a small-scale project, the US lawmakers still have serious distrust issues towards the social media platform. Resulting in rejecting the entire concept of Facebook Inc entering the crypto scene.

Part of the letter by the US senators addressed at Facebook:

Judging by their initial response, Novi doesn’t seem too much concerned at this moment. In fact, they welcome the letter and are even preparing to retort.

Opposition From The Start

The number one reason why so many US lawmakers/senators are against Facebook managing cryptocurrencies is nothing new. In fact, right from the start, lawmakers around the world warned that giving Facebook such liberties is a bad idea. And they state several major reasons.

Some of which include, total control of the money system, invading users’ privacy and enabling crime activities.

This resulted in Facebook rebranding the project in December of 2020. The company further made a single dollar as the backup for their upcoming digital coin. However, it seems that for the time being, even this is not enough to sway lawmakers to grant Facebook regulatory approval.

Consequently,  the frequent privacy leaks and scandals are definitely doing damage to the world’s leading social network.